Young entrepreneur DJ Mills starts photography business

Shutter Media Group founder D.J. Mills.

Teenage photographer David John (D.J.) Mills, 17, is in his final year at Te Awamutu College.

He combined his passion for photography with his free time and decided he might as well give running a business a go - forming Shutter Media Group.

D.J. used to livestream on Twitch, an online streaming platform, where he earned enough money to purchase a small compact camera, a Canon M200.

He had never used it to take photos until he went to one of the meets at Kihikihi speedway to take some photos for a friend who raced mini stocks.

"I enjoyed it a lot, then I purchased a better camera and then it went from there," says D.J.

He has been able to work all over the Waikato region, but his favourite job so far was at Kart Sport Hamiltons at CIK Trophy of New Zealand event on February 4-6.

Kiwi FIA Formula 2 drivers Liam Lawson and Marcus Armstrong were in attendance. As D.J. is a massive Formula 1 fan he thought it was "incredible to meet them both".

"I was exhausted by the end – getting up at early hours of the morning, then coming home and editing the photos till 2am each night."

He believes it was worth it as after he had Liam Lawson contact him asking for some of his photos.

D.J. says, "One day I could be doing an engagement or wedding shoot, the next I could be at a motorsport event, the next I could be doing a real estate shoot."

He doesn't specialise in one particular type of photography and he likes to keep his options open to enter any specific field or type of photography.

Until the end of February, Shutter Media Group has a $99 portrait special where customers can get a 30 minute family portrait shoot. Customers receive all of the high-resolution digital files from the shoot and they get an A4 canvas print of a photo of their choice.

One of D.J.'s goals for Shutter Media Group this year is to gain a following and become well known. He is trying to get his name out there as much as possible.

In the long term, he aims to hire photographers to do work that he wouldn't be able to do – as he can only be at one place at one time.

He would also love to get the opportunity to shoot Formula 1 or any other high-level motorsport one day.